


Legwork

by mithrel



Category: The Real Ghostbusters
Genre: Animals, Case Fic, Gen, Humor, Small Towns
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-16
Updated: 2017-12-16
Packaged: 2019-02-15 16:53:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,948
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13035414
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mithrel/pseuds/mithrel
Summary: Ray and Winston get called to an unusual case in a small town.





	Legwork

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Babie](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Babie/gifts).



> This is (sort of) based on a true story...at least the story my mom used to tell to scare the neighbor kid before I was born. Names have been changed, and details have been futzed with to protect those that don't know they're in this story and make it better fit the setting. I hope you like it, Babie!

Ray walked into the firehouse, wiping his oily hands off with a cloth, passing Janine at the desk.

“What does it look like?” Janine asked into the phone, typing into her computer.

Ray paused.

Janine blinked.

Ray raised his eyebrows.

Janine had taken enough calls by now to not be fazed by anything, from bleeding walls to animals with human faces. Ray hadn’t seen her taken aback in some time.

He found out why a moment later.

“A leg?”

It was Ray’s turn to blink.

More information was not forthcoming. “Uh-huh. Yes, I see. I see.” Janine said, her fingers flying over the keys, as Ray waited impatiently. “And where are you located?” She took down the address, mumbling to herself as she did so, “Dunellen…New…Jersey. And a phone number where we can reach you? Alright, thank you. We’ll get back to you within an hour with when we’ll be there.”

She hung up.

“A leg?” Ray asked.

Janine held up a hand. “I don’t want to have to explain it four times, get the others.”

Ray hurried off to find his coworkers.

Egon was in the lab, as usual, fiddling with something that fizzed and stank. Ray didn’t ask. “We have a new case. Something involving a leg?”

Egon looked up. “What about a leg?”

Ray shrugged. “Janine wants to tell all of us at once.”

Egon turned off his Bunsen burner and followed him down the stairs.

They found Peter dozing in front of the TV, and Winston puttering in the kitchen and went back to Janine’s desk.

“What’s this about a leg?” Ray demanded.

Janine leaned back in her chair, popping her gum. “Seems there’s a couple in a small town in New Jersey who’ve had trouble with a ghost in the house ever since they moved in five years ago.”

“So why are they just calling now?” Winston wanted to know.

Janine shrugged. “The ghost was mainly a minor nuisance. I gather they were kind of fond of it. But they’re having a baby soon, and they’re worried about what it might do.”

Egon nodded. “And the nature of the ghost?”

Janine grinned. “That’s the weird thing. Apparently the previous owner got an infection in his leg just as they were about to sell the house. They took him to the hospital and they had to amputate it. He went to a PT center, then to the new house, but the leg didn’t know that. Its ghost went back to the old house, and started tripping people so it could look at their faces and see if it belonged to them.”

Silence greeted this remarkable pronouncement. After a moment, Peter said, “…Huh.”

“Well, it doesn’t sound that dangerous,” Winston said, oblivious to the looks everyone gave him, “One of us could probably handle it alone.”

“Two,” said Egon flatly, “At minimum.”

Peter nodded. “Never go in without backup, Zeddemore, you know that.”

“But it’s just–“

“Ah,” said Peter, holding up a hand.

“But–“

“Ah!”

Winston sighed. “Alright, fine, two.”

“I’ll go, Egon,” Ray said, bouncing on his toes. “It sounds really interesting!”

“That’s one. Janine, is the issue time-sensitive?”

Janine hesitated. “She’s not due for a couple of months, but I got the impression they’d like it dealt with as soon as possible.”

“Alright then, in the morning. Peter?”

“What, you want me to go on a bust on a _Saturday?_ Egon, I have a date!”

“It’s a three hours away, maximum. You’ll be done long before your date.”

“But–“

“Peter…”

Winston held his hands over his head. “I’ll go with Ray. Okay?”

“Zedd, you may have saved my love life,” Peter said, pumping his hand.

“Cardiopulmonary resuscitation could not save your love life, Peter,” Egon said, then, over Peter’s outraged retort, turned to Janine. “Call them back, please, and tell them two of us will be by in the morning.”

***

In the morning, armed with contact info, as well as a map and directions, Winston and Ray set out in Ecto-1. They took the Holland Tunnel under the Hudson and continued on the 78 to the 139 and continued west and south. They almost missed it.

“This place can’t be more than a mile across!” Ray said, as he made the turn.

The house they wanted was the third one along. It was a red two story with an attic, a white roof and a pine tree in the front yard.

They got out and collected their gear, lugged it along the driveway, past the orange Corolla parked there, and up onto the porch. At least it was summer, so they didn’t have to deal with snow as well.

Winston rang the doorbell as Ray double-checked the stuff one more time. There was the sound of a dog barking inside, then the door opened.

Ray had been expecting a young couple, but the man who answered was at least in his mid-thirties, by his graying brown hair. “Are you Dan Olsen?”

He nodded, and held out his hand. Ray shook it. “I’m Ray Stantz, this is Winston Zeddemore.”

Dan shook Winston’s hand too, then ushered them inside. The source of the barking was revealed as a fluffy white puppy who ran up to them, tail wagging, and jumped on Winston’s knees.

“Down, Daphne!” Dan said, and pushed her off when she didn’t listen. “We just got her, we’re still training her.”

Ray frowned, as he followed Dan, who gestured them to put their things down in the living room. “That could be a problem, if she gets in the way…” Daphne came over to them again, and this time he scratched her ears. “Hi, pup.”

“We’ll just keep her in the kitchen, she’s not housebroken yet anyway,” came a new voice, and Ray turned to see a woman, about five feet tall, also with brown hair, looking at least four months pregnant, who had just entered.

“My wife, Roberta,” Dan said, and she smiled. She came over to Ray, and then Winston, taking both their hands in turn. Ray got the impression she might have hugged them if her stomach wouldn’t have gotten in the way.

“Thank you for coming. When Billy first told us about the ghost, we didn’t believe it, but then we saw it for ourselves…”

“Billy?” Winston asked.

“He’s a neighbor kid, always over here,” said Dan. “Anyway, the leg usually stays in the attic, sometimes upstairs. Let me show you around. Roberta, you sit down.”

“I’m fine, dear.”

“Maybe you are, but I don’t want you traipsing up and down the stairs for no reason when I can do it just fine.”

Roberta shook her head in fond exasperation, but nodded.

Dan took them upstairs, then pointed out the different rooms. Immediately right of the stairs was the nursery, then a playroom next to it whose door faced the stairs. The master bedroom and bathroom were further down the hall. When they glanced into the bedroom, a tuxedo cat with no tail stood up from where it was curled on the bed, stretched, and came over to say hello.

“That’s Sam,” Dan said, reaching down to stroke the cat, who purred. When he straightened up, he continued, “And the stairs to the attic are there.” They nodded at the door he indicated.

Once they were downstairs again, Winston asked, “Is there somewhere you can go for a few hours, so we have a clear field?”

Dan looked doubtful, but Roberta nodded. “Of course. We’ll go see a movie.”

Ray nodded.

“Oh,” Roberta continued. “We also have a cat.”

“We’ve met,” Ray said, smiling. “He should be no trouble.” This was a fairly minor job, and even though pets made things trickier, it wasn’t the first time they’d had to deal with them.”

When the Olsens had left, Ray turned to Winston. “How do you want to tackle this?”

Winston thought a minute. “We swept the rooms as we went by and there was just a faint residue. They said it spends most of its time in the attic. So, traps on the second floor, then stake that out?”

Ray nodded. “Sounds like a plan.” They got their traps and PKE meters and headed up the stairs. Sam led the way, apparently deciding he didn’t want them poking into things without him.

They swept each of the rooms on the second floor again before setting the traps, having to hold back the cat, who was a bit too curious about the whole business.

Then they tromped up the stairs to the attic, Sam following, although the dust made him sneeze and he soon went back downstairs again.

The attic was a long room, barely large enough to stand up in, with windows on two of the walls letting in dusty sunlight. There was no sign of a leg.

Ray and Winston covered two of the walls with their proton packs and waited.

They’d been upstairs about half an hour when Winston pitched forward with an “Oof!” He was up again almost immediately. “Something kicked me!”

“I didn’t see anything,” Ray said, but at that moment his PKE meter started shrilling.

They crouched back-to-back in the center of the room, sweeping their packs from side to side, but there was nothing. A few seconds later a large hairy man’s leg appeared out of the wall. Both proton packs swung to cover but it hopped through the wall again, bending at the knee as if it was still attached to a body.

They saw it a couple more times, but after the initial contact it seemed to sense something was different and these people were not ones to mess with.

They sat down again, packs at the ready, trying to be as quiet as possible.

Finally it poked its nose (knee?) out again and immediately Winston let loose with his pack. The leg rose into the air, writhing, as Ray threw out a trap.

The colors of the opening trap engulfed the leg and drew it downward, then it closed and they squinted in the sudden dimness.

“Did we get it?” Ray asked, and Winston scooted forward to look at the trap.

“Yep,” he said, holding it up so Ray could see the green light.

Sam met them as they came out of the attic, winding around their legs. They slung their packs on their backs and went to collect the rest of the traps, then Winston held the cat so he wouldn’t trip them on the stairs while Ray took the empty traps down.

They swept the rest of the house just to be sure there was nothing else lurking, but everything was quiet. By that time, the Olsens were home.

Dan handed them a check. 

“We really appreciate this,” Roberta said again.

“It’s no problem, Mrs. Olsen,” Ray replied.

“Psh, call me Roberta. And it’s almost lunchtime. The least we can do is feed you boys before you’re on your way again.”

“That’s really not necessary,” Winston said.

“Yeah, we wouldn’t want to put you out.”

“Please. I may be pregnant, but I can still make lunch.”

“I’ll make grilled cheese,” Dan said. “That way we only need paper plates.”

***

Dan whipped up the grilled cheeses on the stove, using butter, bread and cheddar cheese, then cut them diagonally and served them. They were delicious, and both Ray and Winston told Dan so, trying not to talk with their mouths full.

“You have our number,” Winston said, as they took their leave, “Make sure to let us know if you have any more trouble.”

“And we’ll call you when the baby’s born,” Roberta said, beaming and managing to hug both of them.

Ray grinned. “You do that.”


End file.
